Media thickness detecting device of media dispenser

ABSTRACT

A media thickness detecting device of a media dispenser comprises: a feed roller through which media passes to be contacted thereto, a thickness detecting portion contacted to a surface of the feed roller by a point and rotated when the media passes through the surface of the feed roller, and a thickness measuring portion measuring the thickness of the media by detecting the rotating amount of the thickness detecting portion, and thereby, the thickness of the media can be measured precisely regardless of a change of center axis angle of the feed roller.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a media dispenser, andparticularly, to a media thickness detecting device for a mediadispenser which is able to measure the thickness of the media moreprecisely.

[0003] 2. Description of the Background Art

[0004]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a general media dispenser.

[0005] The media dispenser comprises: a base plate 6 receiving a mediacassette 2 where the media is stored and a collection chamber 4 forwithdrawing inferior media; a media pickup portion 8 installed on alower part of the base plate 6 for discharging the media stored in themedia cassette 2 one by one; a media feeding part 10 for conveying themedia discharged through the media pickup portion 8; a media dischargingportion 12 for discharging the media conveyed through the mediaconveying portion 10 to outer part; a driving means for providingdriving power required to drive the respective systems; a powertransmitting means for supplying the driving power generated on thedriving means to the systems; and a media withdrawing means forwithdrawing inferior media during the media transmitting process.

[0006] The base plate 6 is disposed on a receiving space where the mediacassette 2 is received on front side, and a receiving space where thecollection chamber 4 withdrawing inferior media is received is disposedon an upper part of the above receiving space. In addition, a door 16 ismounted on front portion of the two receiving spaces.

[0007] A locking system 18 is installed on the door in order to preventan undesignated person from accessing to the media cassette 2 and to thecollection chamber 4. In addition, a cushion member 20 is installedinside the door 16 for buffing operation by adhering to a front surfaceof the media cassette 2.

[0008] As described above, the media cassette 2 and the collectionchamber 4 are received on the front portion of the base plate 6, thedoor 16 is mounted on the front portion thereof to be opened/closed, andthe locking system 18 is installed on the door 16 to prevent theunapproved person from accessing to the media cassette 2 and thecollection chamber 4.

[0009] In addition, the cushion member 20 adhered onto the inner sidesurface of the door 16 absorbs the shock generated when the media isdischarged from the media cassette 2. 15 The a power board 22 whichmakes the power supplied from outer part used by various electriccomponents is mounted on a lower part of the space where the mediacassette 2 is received on the base plate 6.

[0010] The driving means is a driving motor 24 which is mounted on oneside of the base plate 6 for generating rotating force, and a drivingpulley 26 is mounted on the driving motor 24.

[0011] The driving power transmitting means transmits the driving powergenerated on the driving motor 24 to respective components, the drivingpulley 26 of the driving motor is connected to a passive pulley 30 by adriving belt 28 to transmit the driving power to the passive pulley 30.In addition, a timing belt 32 is wound on the passive pulley 30, a lowerend connecting pulley 34 driving the media pickup portion 8 is wound ona lower end of the timing belt 32, and a discharging pulley 36 drivingthe media discharging portion 12 is wound on an upper end of the timingbelt 32.

[0012] In addition, a plurality of tension pulleys 38 and 40 maintainingthe tension of the timing belt 32 are installed on one side of thetiming belt 32.

[0013] The lower end connecting pulley 34 transmits the rotating forcegenerated by rotation of the timing belt 32 to the media pickup portion8, and transmits the rotating force to the media conveying portion 10 asconnected to the media conveying portion 10.

[0014] The media pickup portion 8 is for discharging the media stored inthe media cassette 2 after dividing one by one, and comprises: a pickuproller 42 disposed on a rear portion of the media cassette 2 fordischarging the media stored in the media cassette 2 downward byfriction; a feed roller 44 and a dividing roller 46 disposed on a lowerpart of the pickup roller 42 for conveying the media discharged from thepickup roller 42 after dividing the media one by one; and a guide member48 for guiding the media conveyed by the feed roller 44 and the dividingroller 46 toward upper direction.

[0015] The media conveying portion 10 is the portion which guides themedia discharged through the media pickup portion 8 till the mediadischarging portion 12, and comprises a first feed belt 74 wound betweena first feed roller 70 disposed on a same axis as that of the lower endconnecting pulley 34 and a second feed roller 72 located on upper part;and a second feed belt 76 rotated with the first feed belt 74 ascontacting to the first feed belt to convey the media.

[0016] The first feed belt 74 is wound between the first feed roller 70which is rotated with the lower end connecting pulley 34 and the secondfeed roller 72 to be rotated by being transmitted the rotating forcefrom the lower end connecting pulley 34, and guide rollers 78 and 80guiding the moving path of the media are installed on one side of thefirst feed belt 74 to be rotatable.

[0017] The second feed belt 76 is rotated toward the same direction asthat of the first feed belt 74 in a state that an inner side surface ofthe second feed belt 76 is contacted to an outer side surface of thefirst feed belt 74, and wound between a third feed roller 82, which isinstalled on a lower part of the base plate 6 to be rotatable, and afourth feed roller 84, which is installed on a front upper part of thebase plate 6 to be rotatable, and rotated.

[0018] In addition, a plurality of guide rollers 86 and 88 which guidethe moving path of the second feed belt 76 are disposed on one side ofthe second feed belt 76.

[0019] Herein, the fourth feed roller 84 is transmitted the rotatingforce by gear-engaging with a gear 90 which is disposed on a same axisas that of the discharging pulley 36 on which the timing belt 32 iswound to drive the second feed belt 76.

[0020] In the above media feeding portion 10, when the driving motor 24is operated, the timing belt 32 is rotated, and accordingly, the lowerend connecting pulley 34 and the discharging pulley 36 are rotated.Then, the first feed roller 70 disposed on the same axis as that of thelower end connecting pulley 34 is rotated to rotate the first feed belt74, and the fourth feed roller 84 gear-engaged with the dischargingpulley 36 is rotated to rotate the second feed belt 76.

[0021] Then, the media discharged through the media pickup portion 8 ispasses between the first feed belt 74 and the second feed belt 76, andguided to the media discharging portion 12.

[0022] The media discharging portion 12 discharges the media conveyedfrom the media feeding portion 10 in order to transfer the media to theuser, and comprises: a first discharging roller 98 installed on a sameaxis as that of the discharging pulley 36 and rotated with it; and asecond discharging roller 100 connected to the first discharging roller98 through a discharging belt 102 and rotated. In addition, thedischarging belt 102 is rotated toward same direction as that of thesecond feed belt 76 in the status of contacting to upper part of thesecond feed belt 76 to discharge the media to outer side.

[0023] The media withdrawing means is for withdrawing media in cassettethat an error is generated or two pieces are conveyed at one time duringthe media is conveyed through the media feeding portion 10, andcomprises a connection chamber 4 disposed on the upper part of the mediacassette 2 for storing inferior media and a diverter 104 installedbetween the first feed belt 74 and the discharging belt 102 forwithdrawing the inferior media into the collection chamber.

[0024] In addition, the media dispenser comprises: a feed sensor 92installed on one side of the media feeding portion 10 for counting themedia by sensing the media passage; a thickness detecting device 94 fordetecting the thickness of the media; an eject sensor 106 for sensingthe media discharged through the media discharging portion 12; a rejectsensor 108 installed on the collection chamber 4 for counting theinferior media which is withdrawn; and a slit sensor 96 for sensing therotating times of the driving motor 24 and length of the media with thefeed sensor 92 to control the operations of the media dispenser.

[0025]FIG. 2 is a side view showing a media thickness detecting deviceof the media dispenser according to the conventional art, and FIG. 3 isa front view showing the media thickness detecting device of the mediadispenser according to the conventional art. The media thicknessdetecting device shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 senses the overlapped media bydetecting the thickness of the media, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are viewsshowing an expanded part of the media thickness detecting device shownin FIG. 1 required by the present invention.

[0026] The media thickness detecting device according to theconventional art comprises: a feed roller 120 disposed on a same axis asthat of the guide roller 80 which guides the first feed belt 74 andthrough which the media passes; and a thickness detecting sensor 122surface contacted to the feed roller 120 to detect the thickness of themedia 140 passing the feed roller 120 and thereby sensing the overlappedmedia.

[0027] The thickness detecting sensor 122 comprises: a sensing roller124 contacted to the feed roller 120 and rotated with the feed roller120; a rotating arm 126, to which the sensing roller 124 is mounted tobe rotatable, having one side connected to a hinge shaft and rotated;and a thickness measuring portion 130 installed on the other end of therotating arm 126 for detecting rotating times of the rotating arm 126 tomeasure the thickness of the media.

[0028] The sensing roller 124 is formed as a cylinder having apredetermined thickness and an outer circumferential surface of thesensing roller 124 is surface-contacted to the surface of the feedroller 120. In addition, the sensing roller 124 is mounted on an axis132 which is connected to one side of the rotating arm 126 to berotatable.

[0029] According to the media thickness detecting device of theconventional art, when the media passes between the feed roller 120 andthe sensing roller 124, the sensing roller 124 is moved as much as thethickness of the media 140. And according to the movement of the sensingroller 124, the rotating arm 126 is rotated as centering around thehinge shaft 128 and the thickness measuring portion 130 installed on theother end of the rotating arm 126 detects the rotating amount of therotating arm 126 to measure the thickness of the media 140.

[0030] However, in the media thickness detecting device according to theconventional art, the axis of the feed roller 120 and the axis of thesensing roller 124 should maintain the parallel status in order todetect the thickness of the media precisely. That is, thecircumferential surfaces of the feed roller 120 and of the sensingroller 124 should be contacted in parallel direction with each other andmaintained the ling contacting status in order to detect the precisethickness of the media. However, the angle of the axis of the feedroller 120 or of the sensing roller 124 can be changed to some degree inthe assembly process or under actual usage environment due to the load,etc., and according to the change of the axis angle, the feed roller 120and the sensing roller can not be contacted ideally. Then, the change ofaxis angle is deepened such that the points are contacted or edges ofthe rollers are contacted, or the distance is changed. Consequently, atolerance of media thickness sensing is exceeded.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0031] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide amedia thickness detecting device of a media dispenser which is able todetect a thickness of media precisely regardless of a change of a feedroller center axis by making the feed roller and a media thicknessdetecting portion contact to each other by points.

[0032] To achieve the object of the present invention, as embodied andbroadly described herein, there is provided a media thickness detectingdevice of a media dispenser comprising: a feed roller through which themedia passes as contacting thereto; a thickness detecting portioncontacted to a surface of the feed roller by a point and rotated whenthe media passes through a surface of the feed roller; and a thicknessmeasuring portion for measuring the thickness of the media by detectingrotating amount of the thickness detecting portion.

[0033] The thickness detecting portion comprises: a contact portionwhich is contacted to the surface of the feed roller by a point; and arotating arm having the contacting portion installed thereon and oneside supported to be rotated, and rotated according to movement of thecontacting portion when the media passes between the feed roller and thecontacting portion.

[0034] The contacting portion is formed integrally on one end portion ofthe rotating arm as a hemisphere shape.

[0035] The contacting portion is a ball type which is mounted on one endportion of the rotating arm to be rotatable.

[0036] The rotating arm has one side on which the contacting portion isinstalled and the other side to which the thickness measuring portion isconnected, and is supported by a hinge shaft to be rotatable.

[0037] The hinge shaft is located near the contacting portion.

[0038] The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantagesof the present invention will become more apparent from the followingdetailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide afurther understanding of the invention and are incorporated in andconstitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of theinvention and together with the description serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

[0040] In the drawings:

[0041]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a general media dispenser;

[0042]FIG. 2 is a side view showing a media thickness detecting deviceaccording to the conventional art;

[0043]FIGS. 3 and 4 are views showing usage status of the mediathickness detecting device according to the conventional art;

[0044]FIG. 5 is a side view showing a media thickness detecting deviceaccording to the present invention;

[0045]FIG. 6 is a front view showing the media thickness detectingdevice according to the present invention; and

[0046]FIG. 7 is a side view showing a media thickness detecting deviceaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0047] Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodimentsof the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings.

[0048] There may be a plurality of embodiments of a media thicknessdetecting device of a media dispenser according to the presentinvention, and hereinafter, the most preferred embodiment will bedescribed.

[0049]FIG. 5 is a front view showing the media thickness detectingdevice of the media dispenser according to the present invention, andFIG. 6 is a side view showing the media thickness detecting device ofthe media dispenser according to the present invention.

[0050] Referring to FIG. 1, the media dispenser according to the presentinvention comprises: a base plate 6 receiving a media cassette 2 storingmedia and a collection chamber 4 for withdrawing inferior media; a mediapickup portion 8 installed on a lower part of the base plate 6 anddischarging the media stored in the media cassette 2 after dividing themedia one by one; a media feeding portion 10 for conveying the mediadischarged through the media pickup portion 8; and a media dischargingportion 12 discharging the media conveyed through the media feedingportion 10 to outer side.

[0051] In addition, the media dispenser comprises: a feed sensor 92installed on one side of the media feeding portion 10 for counting themedia by detecting the passage of media; a thickness detecting device 94for detecting the thickness of the media; an eject sensor 106 sensingthe media discharged through the media discharging portion 12; a rejectsensor 108 installed on the collection chamber for counting thewithdrawn inferior media; and a silt sensor 96 detecting rotating timesof a driving motor 24 and a length of the media with the feed sensor 92to control the operation of the media dispenser.

[0052] The media thickness detecting device 94 of the present inventioncomprises: a feed roller 150 installed on one side of the media feedingportion 10 and contacting to the media 168 which passes through themedia feeding portion 10; a thickness sensing portion 152 contacted to asurface of the feed roller 150 by a point and supported to be rotatable;and a thickness measuring portion 154 measuring the thickness of themedia by detecting rotating amount of the thickness sensing portion 152.

[0053] The thickness sensing portion 152 comprises a contacting portioncontacted to the surface of the feed roller 150 by a point and moved asmuch as the thickness of the media when the media 168 passes through thesurface of the feed roller 150; and a rotating arm 158 having thecontacting portion 156 installed thereon and one side supported to berotatable, and then, rotated due to the movement of the contactingportion 156.

[0054] The contacting portion 156 is formed integrally on the endportion of the rotating arm 158 as a hemisphere shape to be contacted tothe surface of the feed roller 150 by a point. In addition, as anotherembodiment, the contacting portion 156 may be formed as a ball shape 170which is inserted into the end portion of the rotating arm to berotatable and contacted to the surface of the feed roller by the pointas shown in FIG. 7. The contacting portion 156 can be applied as anyshape if it can be contacted to the surface of the feed roller 150 bythe point.

[0055] The contacting portion 156 is formed as a hemisphere or a ball170 type and contacted to the surface of the feed roller 150, andtherefore, the contacted status to the surface of the feed roller 150can be maintained even if the center axis of the feed roller 150 ischanged. Therefore, the thickness of the media can be measured exactlydifferent from the conventional art in which the change of center axisangle is deepened or the distance is changed due to the angle change.

[0056] The rotating arm 158 includes a contacting portion 156 which iscontacted to the feed roller 150 by the point on one end portion, athickness measuring portion 154 for measuring the thickness of the mediaby detecting the rotating amount of the rotating arm 158 on the otherend portion, and a hinge shaft 160 supporting the rotating arm 158 to berotatable on a center portion of the rotating arm 158.

[0057] Herein, the hinge shaft 160 is located near the contactingportion 156 to make the rotating arm 158 rotated a lot even if thecontacting portion 156 is moved slightly, and thereby, precise thicknessmeasuring can be made in the thickness measuring portion 154.

[0058] The thickness measuring portion 154 can be applied as varioustypes which are able to measure the thickness of the media by detectingthe rotating amount of the rotating arm 158.

[0059] Operations of the media thickness detecting device constructed asabove according to the present invention will be described as follows.

[0060] The media 168 which is transmitted one by one from the mediapickup portion 8 is guided by the media feeding portion 10, anddischarged to outer side through the media discharging portion 12.

[0061] At that time, the media thickness detecting device 94 detects thethickness of the media 168 which passes through the media feedingportion 10 to identify two overlapped media 168. And if it is decidedthat a plurality of media are overlapped, the media are withdrawn to thecollection chamber 4.

[0062] The media 168 passes between the feed roller 150 and thecontacting portion 156 contacted to the surface of the feed roller 150,and then, the contacting portion 156 is moved due to the thickness ofthe media 168. In addition, when the rotating arm 158 connectedintegrally with the contacting portion 156 is rotated centering aroundthe hinge shaft 160, the thickness measuring portion 154 connected tothe end portion of the rotating arm 158 detects the rotating amount ofthe rotating arm 158 to measure the thickness of the media 168 finally.

[0063] In the media thickness detecting device of the media dispenserconstructed and operated as above according to the present invention,the contacting portion contacted to the surface of the feed roller isformed as a ball and contacted to the feed roller by the point, andtherefore, the contacting status to the surface of the feed roller canbe maintained even though the center axis of the feed roller is changed.Therefore, the exact rotating amount of the rotating arm is transmittedto the media thickness measuring portion, and the thickness of the mediacan be measured precisely.

[0064] As the present invention may be embodied in several forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, itshould also be understood that the above-described embodiments are notlimited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unlessotherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within itsspirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore allchanges and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of theclaims, or equivalence of such metes and bounds are therefore intendedto be embraced by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A media thickness detecting device of a mediadispenser comprising: a feed roller through which media passed so as tocontacted thereto; a thickness detecting portion contacted to a surfaceof the feed roller by a point and rotated as much as the thickness ofthe media when the media passes through the surface of the feed roller;and a thickness measuring portion for measuring the thickness of themedia by detecting rotating amount of the thickness detecting portion.2. The device of claim 1, wherein the thickness detecting portioncomprises: a contacting portion which is contacted to the surface of thefeed roller by Is a point; and a rotating arm having the contactingportion installed thereon and one side supported to be rotatable, andthen rotated due to the movement of the contacting portion when themedia passes between the feed roller and the contacting portion.
 3. Thedevice of claim 2, wherein the contacting portion is formed integrallyon one end portion of the rotating arm as a hemisphere shape.
 4. Thedevice of claim 2, wherein the contacting portion is mounted on one endportion of the rotating arm to be rotatable as a ball type.
 5. Thedevice of claim 2, wherein the rotating arm has one side on which thecontacting portion is installed and the other side to which thethickness measuring portion is connected, and is supported by the hingeshaft to be rotatable.
 6. The device of claim 5, wherein the hinge shaftis located near the contacting portion.
 7. A media dispenser comprising:a base plate receiving a media cassette where media is stored and acollection chamber withdrawing inferior media; a media pickup portioninstalled on a lower part of the base plate for discharging the mediastored in the media cassette after dividing the media one by one; amedia feeding portion for conveying the media discharged through themedia pickup portion; and a thickness detecting device installed on oneside of the media feeding portion for detecting the thickness of themedia in point-contacting method to a surface of a feed roller throughwhich the media passes.
 8. The dispenser of claim 7, wherein thethickness detecting device comprises: a contacting portion contacted tothe surface of the feed roller by a point; and a rotating arm having thecontacting portion installed thereon and one side supported to berotatable, and then, rotated due to the movement of the contactingportion when the media passes between the feed roller and the contactingportion.
 9. The dispenser of claim 8, wherein the thickness detectingdevice further comprises a thickness measuring portion installed on oneend portion of the rotating arm for measuring the thickness of the mediaby detecting rotating amount of the rotating arm.
 10. The dispenser ofclaim 8, wherein the contacting portion is formed integrally on one endportion of the rotating arm as a hemisphere shape.
 11. The dispenser ofclaim 8, wherein the contacting portion is a ball type which is mountedon one end portion of the rotating arm to be rotatable.
 12. Thedispenser of claim 8, wherein the rotating arm has one side on which thecontacting portion is installed and the other side to which thethickness measuring portion is connected, and is supported by a hingeshaft to be rotatable.
 13. The dispenser of claim 12, wherein the hingeshaft is located near the contacting portion.